


Masterpiece

by MessOfCurls



Series: Lines and Shapes [3]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Art AU, Artists, Christmas Presents, Climbing Class, Everybody Lives, First Christmas, M/M, Memes, artist!josh, sex reference, this is so dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 08:06:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MessOfCurls/pseuds/MessOfCurls
Summary: “Well?” Chris asked, looking pleased with himself.A disbelieving smile spread across Josh's face.It was tasteless. It was tacky.He loved it.





	Masterpiece

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a really dumb headcanon I needed to exorcise.

“Okay, don’t look.”  
  
“Alright."  
  
“Seriously, keep facing that way, don’t look yet.”  
  
“I’m not!”  
  
Josh smirked and shrugged off his coat, hanging it up beside the door to Chris' apartment. Obediently, he waited, arms folded, while Chris moved around the lounge behind him. He’d been over briefly before heading out and knew what was coming but hadn’t seen it in its full glory, Chris insisting on a ‘big reveal’.  
  
“Okay, cut the lights.”  
  
Josh flipped the switch. A moment of darkness followed and then light returned, muted this time. Shaking his head to himself, Josh slowly turned around.  
  
_“Since I'm not seeing you Christmas Eve, we could do something the day before?”_  
  
With Josh due home to see his family, same as Chris, it had been Chris’ suggestion to make their own pre-Christmas holiday, a prospect the blond was surprisingly enthusiastic about. Josh couldn't remember Chris being fussed about Christmas growing up, but then a lot of things had changed since then.  
  
They’d tried a few traditions on for size in their quest for festivity. They were dressed for the occasion, the snowflake at the centre of Chris' predictably geeky red jumper flanked by Ken and Ryu, their arms outstretched toward it, Josh's own simple grey festive jumper bearing the words 'Now I Have A Machine Gun Ho-Ho-Ho' in faux red marker. Ice skating was considered a success, both men pleased to discover their balance hadn't wholly deserted them. The copious hand-holding was a plus, more than making up for the one time they had fallen which, in Josh's opinion, was totally Chris' fault, though he'd probably say otherwise. There was the eggnog they’d bought from a pop-up stall beside the rink, a tradition they both agreed would be cut from future iterations of what Chris had dubbed ‘Christmas Eve Eve’.  
  
And then there was… whatever Josh was looking at now.  
  
Chris’ roommates had gone home for the holidays, giving him free rein over the apartment, and he'd clearly made the most of it. Josh had already seen the tinsel and strings of lights stuck to the walls with scotch tape and snaking along the shelves, but with a flick of a switch they’d come to life, twinkling in clashing patterns of flashes that should have come with a warning. 'Snow' dusted the TV stand, a small reindeer with a light up nose stood perched beside the TV screen. And there, standing in front of a pint-size Christmas tree dripping in yet more lights, the beanie he'd been wearing moments before replaced by a Santa hat, was the mastermind behind the make-shift grotto.  
  
With a click of a remote, Christmas music began to play from the soundbar beneath the TV.  
  
“Well?” Chris asked, looking pleased with himself.  
  
A disbelieving smile spread across Josh's face.  
  
It was tasteless. It was tacky.  
  
He loved it.  
  
“It looks like Santa threw up in here.”  
  
Chris grinned, far from put out. “I’m gonna take that as a compliment,” he said, dismissing the comment with a blasé shrug. “You thirsty?”  
  
Still a little dumbstruck, Josh nodded and ventured further into the lounge. He sat down and settled back against the couch cushions as Chris headed for the kitchen, taking in the gaudy room around him with a perplexed smile.  
  
“Jesus…”  
  
Chris was definitely way more into Christmas than he remembered.  
  
Josh heard the fridge close, and Chris returned with two open beers in hand. He turned on a lamp, providing a little more light, then offered one to Josh.  
  
Josh took it. He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What?" Chris asked.  
  
“Beer isn’t very Christmassy.”  
  
Chris sat down and leaned back against the arm of the couch, gesturing to the mess of lights around them. “Come on. I'm trying. Ice skating was good, right?"  
  
"Yeah, it was," Josh admitted.  
  
"And we've got jumpers, music, takeout later--"  
  
“Again, not Christmassy, but sure." Josh smiled and tapped his chest. “You still wanna watch Christmas movies?”  
  
“Can do,” Chris said, pleased to see Josh getting into the spirit of things. "See, man, I've got it covered. We got a tree, we got lights, we got--"  
  
"Rudolph," Josh said, glancing at the overly cutesy reindeer.  
  
"Right, Rudolph."  
  
“Snow.”  
  
“Snow.”  
  
“Anal.”  
  
“An--” Chris’ head caught up with his mouth a second too late. He snorted but quickly recovered and shot Josh a look. “And that’s festive how?”  
  
Josh's eyes turned skyward as he considered it, then flicked back to Chris. His smile turned crooked. “Keep the hat on?”  
  
Smirking, Chris sipped his beer. He glanced over at the tree then back to Josh. “And we've got gifts. They're festive. We can agree on that, right?”  
  
Josh nodded and followed suit, raising his beer to his lips.  
  
“So, yeah…” Chris’ gaze returned to the tree, lingering on the gifts beneath. He paused, absently tapping his fingers along the neck of his beer. “...You wanna do them now?”  
  
Josh smiled to himself. Chris had been sneaking sidelong looks at the gift propped up beneath the tree ever since Josh brought it over, and it hadn't gone unnoticed. That coupled with Chris' feigned nonchalance and the childlike anticipation in his eyes made the request hard to deny.  
  
“Sure.”  
  
Chris didn't need further prompting. He got to his feet, fetched the smaller of the two gifts then sat down once more.  
  
"You first," he said, handing it to Josh.  
  
Josh placed his beer on the coffee table and sat forward in his seat. He rubbed his hands together, flashed Chris a smile then set to work carefully peeling back the wrapping paper while Chris looked on. Gift opened, he glanced up at Chris then stared down at his lap. His smile faltered.  
  
“Oh…”  
  
Perhaps he was biased, but Chris had become a big fan of Josh's work, and that combined with Josh's own enthusiasm had made finding him a gift an easy task in theory. Josh talked about art a lot, an offhand comment here and there, and after some research, Chris had narrowed down the choices to the ‘skin tones' twelve pack of Copic markers now resting on Josh's lap.  
  
“You said you wanted to start working with pens, so.”  
  
“Right.”  
  
Chris watched Josh ponder the gift and tried to read his expression. He was smiling, and smiling was good, but there was something amiss in his gaze that planted an unexpected seed of doubt.  
  
It was almost impossible keeping track of what supplies Josh had stored away in his studio. The idea that Josh might have impulse bought himself the very same items wasn't entirely unfounded. If that was the case, Josh could probably still get some use from them, but if they were the wrong kind?  
  
“Did I mess up? The guy in the store said they were good. I’ve got a receipt if--”  
  
“No, they-- they’re great.” Josh gave a reassuring smile and lifted Chris' hand to his mouth. He kissed it then placed it on his knee, squeezing softly. “No, it’s, um…” Josh glanced down at the pens then met Chris’ eye. He was smiling, but it was sheepish now, almost apologetic. “...I thought we said we were doing gag gifts?”  
  
Chris frowned softly. “We did?”  
  
“Yeah, I thought we said when we were out at…” Josh chewed his lip, trailing off to a muttered “Shit.”  
  
Chris searched his memory, and the more he searched, the more Josh's claim sounded like something they might have sort have agreed on. He had a vague recollection of a conversation but thinking about it now, perhaps they hadn’t been one hundred percent clear on the details.  
  
“I can get you something else.”  
  
Chris searched Josh's gaze then looked at the lone gift resting beneath the tree. His eyes narrowed. “What did you do?”  
  
Bottom lip bitten between his teeth again, torn between amusement and apology, Josh didn’t answer, holding back a smile.  
  
Chris went to the tree and fetched his gift. He sat down, spread it across his thighs, then warily opened it.  
  
"Wha..."  
  
Blindsided, Chris' smile faded then renewed. He blinked at the image before him then began to chuckle, shoulders shaking softly.  
  
“I can’t believe you did this.”  
  
“Yeah…”  
  
Grinning, Chris picked up the canvas and held it at arm's length. There was a lot to take in.  
  
Chris had suspected artwork based on the gift's shape and was proven right. He recognised Josh's style immediately, a scene rendered in acrylics. It was, for all intents and purposes, a great painting, and with any other subject he'd be gushing over it already. But the subject was the problem.  
  
"Dude..."  
  
The painted scene was familiar, one he’d seen many times before - a figure dressed in light-coloured shirt and shorts standing on a stretch of tree-lined sidewalk, hands clasped together across his stomach. Beneath it in neat typography read the words ‘You know I had to do it to em’.  
  
“Seriously, I'll get you something else.”  
  
“No, it's--" Chris lapsed into another bout of chuckling. "Man, it's so dumb, I love it.”  
  
“Yeah?” Josh asked, not entirely convinced.  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Chris carefully placed the painting on the coffee table then pulled Josh into a kiss, chuckling against his mouth. Still beaming, he pulled away, caught sight of the painting again, and his mirth began anew.  
  
"They’re not gonna let me put it up in here, man," he said when he'd finally composed himself, his amusement reduced to a smirk and a sigh.  
  
“You don't think?  
  
“ _Hell_ no. I had to wait ‘til they left to put this stuff up.”  
  
Josh sniggered. “What about your room?”  
  
Chris wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the idea of hanging an old meme over his bed, but it didn't seem like he had many other options. “I guess so.”  
  
Josh was smiling but still looked unsure. He huffed and shook his head to himself. “I’m sorry, I really thought--”  
  
“No, it’s...”  
  
Chris looked at the painting. His smile grew.  
  
It was dumb. It was tacky.  
  
He loved it.  
  
“It's great.”  
  
Chris' answer seemed convincing enough, and he saw Josh's anxious smile replaced with one of relief, his shoulders relaxing when Chris gave his knee an encouraging squeeze.  
  
“So, what now?” Josh asked, clearly more at ease.  
  
“Your pick.”  
  
Josh considered it. "Well, we could go hang up your gift?" Noting the look Chris wore, he tried again. " _Or_ we could..."

Josh fell quiet then met Chris' eye. Surrounded by tinsel and tacky decorations, the coloured lights playing off cotton ball snow, Chris watched Josh's smile soften.

"You wanna get cozy and Die Hard with me?" Josh asked.  
  
Chris matched his smile. " _Yeah_ , I do."

And right then, he did. More than anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: [@MessOfCurls-Creative](https://messofcurls-creative.tumblr.com)


End file.
